Processes for hydrogenation of alkylaryl ketones to alkylaryl alcohols are known in the art. Such processes conventionally comprise hydrogenation of alkylaryl ketones to the corresponding alkylaryl alcohols by contacting the alkylaryl ketones with hydrogen at elevated pressure and temperatures in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst containing one or more metals selected from groups IA, IIB, VI and VIII of the periodic system, as defined on page 1-11 of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 72nd Edition, 1991.
EP-A-0714877, for instance, describes a process for producing α-phenyl ethyl alcohol by hydrogenation of acetophenone, which uses a copper-based catalyst containing at least one alkaline earth metal carbonate and/or at least one alkaline earth metal compound, said catalyst being reduced by hydrogen prior to use. Generally, under the conditions applied in the hydrogenation, part of the desired alkylaryl alcohols formed is dehydrated to aryl alkene, which directly reacts further with hydrogen to the corresponding alkylated aryl compound. The dehydration becomes more pronounced upon an increase in temperature. Conversely, the catalysts usually employed become more active at increased temperature. Operation at a higher temperature, although permitting a higher conversion of the alkylaryl ketones reduces the yield of desired aryl alcohols, and thus the selectivity of the reaction. At lower temperatures, the activity of the catalysts for conversion of the alkylaryl ketones is limited, and thus the possible yields are as well. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to be able to operate the process for the hydrogenation of alkylaryl ketones to aryl alcohols at lower temperatures while still obtaining high yields of the desired products. It would be equally desirable to provide for a catalyst with improved activity even at lower temperatures, so that operation at higher temperatures with the resulting loss in selectivity towards the desired product can be avoided.